FSF responds to Microsoft's privacy and encryption announcement

Yesterday, Microsoft announced a new effort to "[protect] customer
data from government snooping."
FSF executive director John Sullivan issued the following statement on Thursday, December 5th:

"Microsoft has made renewed security promises before. In the end,
these promises are meaningless. Proprietary software like Windows is
fundamentally insecure not because of Microsoft's privacy policies but
because its code is hidden from the very users whose interests it is
supposed to secure. A lock on your own house to which you do not have
the master key is not a security system, it is a jail.

Even on proprietary operating systems like Windows, it is advisable to
use free software encryption programs such as GNU Privacy
Guard. But when no one except Microsoft can see the
operating system code underneath, or fix it when problems are
discovered, it is impossible to have a true chain of trust.

If the NSA revelations have taught us anything, it is that
journalists, governments, schools, advocacy organizations, companies,
and individuals, must be using operating systems whose code can be
reviewed and modified without Microsoft or any other third party's
blessing. When we don't have that, back doors and privacy violations
are inevitable.

While the Microsoft announcement does promise "transparency" to
reassure people that there are no back doors in Windows, this is no
solution. Transparency in the Windows world normally means
self-reports commissioned by Microsoft, or access granted to outsiders
covering very limited portions of source code under strict agreements
that limit sharing that information.

Freedom and security necessitate not just being allowed a peek at the
code. Microsoft has demonstrated time and
time again that its definition of a "back door" will not be the same
as yours. Noticing that the back door is wide open will do you no good
if you are forbidden from shutting it.